NAACP looks to boost ranks

Published 8:00 pm, Monday, October 22, 2007

STAMFORD-- The city branch of the NAACP reports a steep decline in membership over the past two decades.

Current and former leaders in the organization said the Stamford branch must attract adolescents and address national and community issues in order to strengthen membership.

"We need to be able to come into the 21st century and become involved with young people," said Harry Parson, former Stamford NAACP president.

Stamford NAACP President Jere Eaton declined to state the exact number of current members but she said around 250 people belong to the local branch of the organization. Eaton refused to release records on organizational enrollment but said the decline reflects a national trend.

Richard Wright, a Stamford NAACP member, recalled the local branch of the organization containing over a 1,000 members when he joined in 1986.

Wright said reaching out to a younger member base is crucial in preserving the organization. The organization currently counts nine youth members and needs 25 in order to form a youth council, according to Eaton.

Eaton, who joined the NAACP as a teenager, is trying to recruit younger members into the youth council and expects it to convene in the near future.

Johnnie Mae Britt, former Stamford NAACP president, said the group must educate the younger generation about what the NAACP accomplished. She believes many blacks in the community do not realize how many opportunities arose from the organization's persistence in the civil rights struggle of the 1950s and 1960s.

"I think so many of the young people don't really know what the NAACP stands for," she said.

Reverend Lindsay E Curtis, Norwalk NAACP president, said "a degree of apathy" exists in the younger generation. The organization needs to show its accomplishments and sponsor fundraising programs geared towards young people in order to attract adolescent members.

"We let people know we're involved," said Curtis. "It's not just an eat, meet and great."

The Norwalk branch maintains a prescience in city education programs in light of the No Child Left Behind act, according to Curtis. His members monitor the school system, addressing policies on suspension and graduation.

Curtis said he has seen a positive response to increased presence in the schools, as youth council membership increased from three to 35 over the past two years.

Wright believes the Stamford branch should adopt a similar education policy, fighting for adolescent issues like suspension.

Eaton said she joined the NAACP in the 1970s because the organization boasted many community leaders she looked up to counted. She believes the new leaders, such as herself and Rev. Curtis, are drawing people back to the NAACP.

She said recent events in Stamford render the NAACP "as relevant now as it was in 1909, when it was founded."

"There has been a few incidents in Stamford and in Norwalk where people are finding the NAACP is needed," Eaton said. "I'm going to be vague on those. People know what they are."

Members of the NAACP attended key local events, like the police commissioners meeting on May 25 discussing alleged police brutality at Southwood Square, but Eaton and Wright agreed the organization needs to make itself more visible in the community.

"We haven't done anything," said Eaton. "I'm looking forward to us repositioning ourselves as one of the leading advocate or civil organizations here in Stamford and rebuilding the trust of our members."

Eaton said she plans to reach out to the community at large by attending governmental meetings and brainstorming community programming, including weekday activities for youth in light of the Stamford YMCA closing.

The organization needs to become involved with a blanket issue effecting minorities in Stamford and reach out to the community in general, according to Parson.

"There are a number of things that go on city wide-- at the zoning board, at the planning board, at the board of reps-- where I think we could make a real impact by having a presence," Parson said.

Wright and many other members believe housing may be the biggest issue in the city. Wright claims the affordable housing system needs restructuring and the NAACP must look at issues like criteria set up by housing authorities to filter their tenants.

Britt, who currently lives in Charleston, SC, said the current administration needs to address the cost of living in the city. She said the price of housing drove a lot of members, including herself, away from Stamford.

"People can't afford to live in Stamford," she said. "A lot of people have migrated back down to the South."

Wright and Curtis both said affordable housing is an issue requiring oversight in each community. The NAACP formed a housing committee, headed by Parson, at their July 18 meeting and Eaton said she scheduled a meeting with Housing Authority Executive Director Richard Fox.

Parson also counts internal squabbling as reason for lowered membership and much of the disillusionment surrounding the Stamford NAACP. Parson, who became a member during Johnnie Mae Britt's campaign for president of the Stamford branch, cites an earlier incidents as well as the branch's struggle for reinstatement as reasons for declining membership.

Wright argues the inner turmoil served to strengthen membership because people rejoined the group, attempting to solve the squabbling.

"When there are controversies, there are more members," Wright said.

Wright said the NAACP cannot survive on addressing issues alone, as it needs to "constantly sell membership and figure out vehicles to constantly sell membership."

Eaton said fundraising events, such as a cook out at Scalzi Park on Sept. 8, will feature membership drives. Parson said the Freedom Fund dinner is the most important event for the Stamford NAACP, as it generates the most money and memberships of any event.